Stay By Me
by Cheeseburger of Doom
Summary: [Warlords 5, oneshot]He is Mizuki's new pet, his new plaything. He was born on the outside, but remembers nothing aside from gang life. He wonders what it's like on the outside. He wishes for a friend.


A/N: This is Yuuta's story! The ending turned out a little differently than I expected. I don't want to give it away, but...I'll just say that he doesn't really end up paired with anyone, love-wise, anyway.

This is the fifth in a series of around thirteen (THIRTEEN?!). Some of the stories will be shorter than others, though. A few of them are back-stories of characters that you've already met (and maybe even cried over...I'm such a mean author!) This story is shorter than the previous ones, and I've left it as a one-shot.

Warnings: Character death(s), much angst, violence, immoral stuff, torturing of your favorite characters, etc. etc.

Warlords #5:

Stay By Me

Fuji Yuuta was not born into the gang. He was kidnapped by Mizuki when he was very small. He did not remember anything about his other life, except for the smiling faces of his parents. They haunted him in his sleep.

Gang life was a nightmare, but since Yuuta couldn't remember anything else, he lived with it. He stood silently by while his leader plotted the destruction of the other gangs. He stood silently by and watched his leader use his younger half-brother as a play thing.

When Mizuki's younger half-brother escaped from the gang, Yuuta silently accepted his fate as Mizuki's new plaything.

Once in a while, when Mizuki was having his way with him, Yuuta could also remember the face of his older brother, who he had loved very much. He wondered what his brother was doing, now.

-----

Yuuta did not really have any friends. The Kisarazu twins always tried to look out for him, but no more than that, really. When things got really rough, they only looked after one another.

The Tanaka twins did not like him very much. They did not like anyone but each other, really. They were lost in their own little world. Yuuta wished he could live in his own little world; it would be a nice escape from the one he really lived in.

Akazawa hated him. Akazawa hated anyone that held Mizuki's attentions, because that was a position he himself wanted. He would have given anything to be Mizuki's love slave. Mizuki did not pay him much attention at all.

Yuuta did not know what to make of the last member of Mizuki's gang. He was silent most of the time, and ruthless in a fight. Yuuta did not like him very much because of that ruthlessness, but he did not blame him for it. He hadn't spoken to Shinjyo more than three times in his entire life, and Shinjyo had always been in the gang, even longer than Yuuta. He'd been born into it.

Mizuki's gang had been reduced to very few people. They were all that was left, of a once large and prosperous one. It was not entirely Mizuki's fault as leader; what was left of all the gangs were entirely men, now. There were no children. No one seemed to have the desire to capture a woman and have children -- maybe they were all looking for an end, deep in their hearts. The end that Mizuki wanted was victory for his gang.

The end that Yuuta wanted was just that -- an end.

-----

"Atsushi. Ryo. Mizuki wants to speak to you," Yuuta said, appearing in the doorway of the twins' room. He did not look in; he did not want to see what they were up to. It would be either very inappropriate, or sickeningly sweet; either way, Yuuta would be either embarrassed, or terribly jealous. It had happened too many times before. He knew better than to just walk in on them anymore.

"What does he want this time?" Kisarazu Atsushi asked.

"No idea. Probably another plan," Yuuta said. "If you don't come soon, he's going to have one of his fits, though."

"Can't have that, now can we?" The sarcasm was heavy in Kisarazu Ryo's voice.

Yuuta shrugged. "Mizuki is who he is."

"Yeah, and we're all sorry for it."

"Just hurry up."

Yuuta returned to where Mizuki was waiting. Yes, they were all sorry that Mizuki was who he was, but what could they do about it? He was their leader, and always would be. They had to follow him.

Yuuta had never been given any other choice.

-----

Mizuki was rough. He had always been rough, and probably always would be. Yuuta wondered what it would be like to have a gentle lover.

He wondered if the brother he could barely remember, and the parents' whose faces were always smiling in his nightmares, would cry if they knew how he was treated here. He wondered if they had ever treated him any better.

Yuuta knew that he would never get used to the feeling of Mizuki being rough. He would never get used to the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, after it was all over. It happened almost every night, but he would never get used to it. He did not want to get used to it.

There were other things that Yuuta would never get used to, like the nausea he felt after a gang fight. Even if it ended with no injuries whatsoever, the what-ifs played over and over in his mind. He had seen enough death to know what it looked like; it was easy to imagine someone he knew lying broken on the ground.

The first time he seriously injured someone was when he was nineteen years old. He'd always avoided it before. He didn't want to kill anyone, so he usually got away with only scraping them, or knocking them off their motorcycles, before Mizuki called a retreat. He always called for retreat if they were losing -- and more often than not they were losing, because they had so few people.

The first time he seriously injured someone, he threw up all night long. Mizuki just left him outside retching, and told him that they could have their fun when he was less pathetic.

Yuuta hadn't even killed the man, but there had been so much blood on his hands...

Every time he thought about it, he would throw up again. He had nothing left in him, but he kept doing it, over and over.

Suddenly, there was someone there, holding his shoulders, steadying him. Warm hands.

"Shinjyo?"

"I know how you feel," Shinjyo said. The man made of stone. How could he possibly know what Yuuta felt like? Did he have regrets? Did he feel guilt?

Maybe the stone was only on the outside.

"Never again," Yuuta said. "Even if I have to let my opponent kill me, I'm never doing that again."

"That's a hard promise to follow through with. The instinct to survive is buried deep in all of us," Shinjyo said. "I know that for a fact."

"Then you...?"

"I was only about five years old when this happened to me," Shinjyo said. "Most of us don't even see that much blood until we're at least ten, but I was strong, and the former leader wanted to use me."

Five years old. Yuuta was nineteen.

"I'm sorry."

"So am I."

Yuuta understood now why Shinjyo was the way he was. He did not dislike him any more.

"Thank you."

Shinjyo nodded. "You always reminded me of how I would have been. I don't want you to turn into what I am."

"I'll stick to the promise I just made," Yuuta said.

"I don't want you to die, either. Just stay by me, and I'll make sure that nothing happens to you."

"Thank you," Yuuta said again.

-----

"Why do you spend so much time with that big, ugly Shinjyo?" Mizuki asked, as he traced circular patterns in Yuuta's skin with his finger.

"He's my friend."

"You don't need any friends. You have me, after all."

Anything that Yuuta said in reply would make Mizuki angry, so he decided not to say anything at all.

"I want you to stop," Mizuki said. One of his fingernails dug into Yuuta's chest. "You are supposed to be completely devoted to me."

Kirihara was never completely devoted to you. You can't force people to love you. "I only want a friend," Yuuta said.

"Isn't that too bad."

-----

"Mizuki doesn't want me to talk to you anymore," Yuuta said. He was looking at his feet. He felt like a little kid who's mother had forbidden him to see one of his friends. He'd learned of situations like that from books. He'd read a lot of books stolen from the outside world. He'd learned that it wasn't perfect out there, but it sounded a lot more hopeful than the one he lived in.

It had been Kajimoto that had taught him how to read; Kajimoto and his brother. Kajimoto's brother was dead, and Kajimoto was gone. He'd been taken away by someone from Atobe's gang. Mizuki said that they'd probably killed him.

Yuuta hoped that he was alive somewhere.

"Mizuki is a worthless bastard," Shinjyo said. "Come with me."

"I can't --"

"I want to show you something."

Yuuta decided that, just this once, he didn't have to follow Mizuki. Just this once, he could do what he wanted, because he thought it was right.

He followed Shinjyo into the unknown.

-----

Shinjyo brought him to an abandoned apartment complex.

"Normal people used to live here," he said. "A long time ago, before the gangs were formed."

"How do you know?"

"My mother told me, and her mother told her, and it goes on like that. The gangs have existed for a long time, but that wasn't always the case."

"I can't even imagine it," Yuuta said. "The gang is all I know, really."

"I can imagine it, when I'm sitting here. I can imagine a few bored teenagers getting together, and going out for a night on the town. A few bored teenagers who made another few bored teenagers angry, and started a war."

"You think that's the reason all of this is happening?" Yuuta asked. "Can something that simple really be the cause of all the pain?"

"No one will ever know for sure," Shinjyo said. "That's the one thing that no one's mother passed down."

They sat in silence for a while. Yuuta tried to imagine everything that Shinjyo had said. It seemed very far away, but after a while, he could almost reach it. What if that really was the cause of all of this?

"When we go back, Mizuki is going to be very angry with me."

"I told you, I'll take care of you," Shinjyo said.

Yuuta knew that Shinjyo meant it. His worry dissolved.

-----

"Yuuta! Where the hell have you been?" Mizuki demanded.

" I went for a walk," Yuuta replied.

"With him?"

"Yes. He's my friend."

"There is no such thing as a friend in a gang." Mizuki was shaking with anger. How dare Yuuta defy his orders?

Shinjyo's hand was on Yuuta's shoulder, and it was warm. Yuuta knew that Mizuki was wrong.

"I found one," he said. "I always do whatever you want me to. Just let me have this one thing."

Mizuki turned his back. "I will never forgive you for this, Yuuta. You have disobeyed me directly."

"I'm sorry," Yuuta said. He meant it. He wished he could follow Mizuki blindly, without emotion, but that was impossible.

"I should have you killed for this."

"Then kill me," Yuuta said. "Please."

"Do it, Shinjyo."

Yuuta felt the hand on his shoulder tighten.

"You have proven more trouble than you're worth, Yuuta. You fell for the act. I'm disappointed in you."

All an act. The feeling of security, the feeling of finally having someone around him who actually gave a damn...It had all been an act, so that Mizuki could find out if he was loyal or not.

Mizuki concluded that Yuuta's loyalty was faulty -- that he was not completely devoted, and therefore, he should be punished.

Mizuki was right. There was no such thing as a friend in the gang.

"I'm sorry," Shinjyo said. Darkness enveloped Yuuta, like a cold blanket of hatred.

-----

"Am I dead?"

It was the first question that came to his lips as he sat up. He should be dead. Shinjyo had killed him.

"No, you're not dead."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want to kill you," Shinjyo said. "The only reason I went through with Mizuki's act was because I actually wanted to save you."

"Then why..."

"I had to go through with an act of my own." Shinjyo nodded to Mizuki, who was sprawled out on the ground. "He thought I killed you, and he trusted me for a moment."

"Did you kill him?" Yuuta did not know why, in his heart, he was afraid. Mizuki had always been cruel to him, and yet...Mizuki was the only family he had ever known, despite all of it. There had been moments when Mizuki had treated him well; given him something to eat when he was hungry, or a blanket when he was cold.

"No. He is not dead, but he won't be making me angry again any time soon," Shinjyo said. "He doesn't fight against anyone that he knows he will lose to."

"Then everything that happened was real?" Yuuta asked. "You really are a friend?"

"If that's what you want to call it."

Yuuta smiled. He felt more hopeful than he had in a very long time. When Mizuki awoke, he would probably demand that Yuuta become his slave once again, and Yuuta would probably not refuse. As long as Shinjyo was around, Mizuki would never go too far with him again.

Shinjyo would be around for a long time. He was strong, and he wanted to protect Yuuta. He would make sure that he did.

Yuuta got to his knees, and embraced Shinjyo, who was still kneeling before him. Not too long ago, he never would have considered hugging the man made of stone, but now it seemed as natural as breathing.

He wondered fleetingly if this is what it would have felt like to have a brother. He thought he could almost remember his brother's face then; smiling and happy.

Wherever you are...I miss you.

Yuuta knew that he would never be lonely again.


End file.
